-D COMSTOCK, B. S. niversity; Author of How to Keep Bees, and ..rator and Engraver for Manual for the .sects and for Insect Life HANDBOOK OF NATURE-STUDY For Teachers and Parents Based on the Cornell Nature-Study Leaflets, with Much Additional Material and Many New Illustrations By ANNA BOTSFORD QOMSTOCK, B. S. Professor in Nature-Study in Cornell University; Author of How to Keep Bees, and Ways of the Six-Footed; Illustrator and Engraver for Manual for the Study of Insects and for Insect Life FIFTEENTH EDITION McClelland and stewart, ltd. TORONTO CANADA COPYRIGHT, IOII BY ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK LIBRARY of the university OF ALBERTA Printed in the U. S. A, TO LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY UNDER WHOSE WISE, STAUNCH AND INSPIRING LEADERSHIP THE NATURE-STUDY WORK AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED AND TO MY CO-WORKER JOHN WALTON SPENCER WHOSE COURAGE, RESOURCEFULNESS AND UNTIRING ZEAL A WERE POTENT FACTORS IN THE SUCCESS v ~ f ; OF THE CA$BE THIS BOJDR IS ^DEDICATED Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/handbookofnature00coms_0 PREFACE The Cornell University Nature-Study propaganda was essentially an agricultural movement in its inception and its aims; it was inaugurated as a direct aid to better methods of agriculture in New York State. During the years of agricultural depression 1891-1893, the Charities of New York City found it necessary to help many people who had come from the rural districts — a condition hitherto unknown. The philanthropists managing the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor asked, “What is the matter with the land of New York State that it cannot support its own population?” A conference was called to consider the situation to which many people from different parts of the State were invited; among them was the author of this book, who little realized that in attending that meeting the whole trend of her activities would be thereby changed. Mr. George T. Powell, who had been a most efficient Director of Farmers’ Institutes of New York State was invited to the conference as an expert to explain conditions and give advice as to remedies. The situation seemed so serious that a Committee for the Promotion of Agricul- ture in New York State was appointed. Of this committee the Honorable Abram S. Hewitt was Chairman, Mr. R. Fulton Cutting, Treasurer, Mr. Wm. H. Tolman, Secretary. The other members were Walter L. Suydam, Wm. E. Dodge, Jacob H. Schiff, George T. Powell, G. Howard Davidson, Howard Townsend, Professor I. P. Roberts, C. McNamee, Mrs. J. R. Lowell, and Mrs. A. B. Comstock. Mr. George T. Powell was made Director of the Department of Agricultural Education. At the first meeting of this committee Mr. Powell made a strong plea for interesting the children of the country in farming as a remedial measure, and maintained that the first step toward agriculture was nature-study. It had been Mr. Powell’s custom to give simple agricultural and nature- study instruction to the school children of every town where he was con- ducting a farmers’ institute, and his opinion was, therefore, based upon experience. The committee desired to see for itself the value of this idea, and experimental work was suggested, using the schools of Westchester County as a laboratory. Mr. R. Fulton Cutting generously furnished the funds for this experiment, and work was done that year in the Westchester schools, which satisfied the committee of the soundness of the project. The committee naturally concluded that such a fundamental movement must be a public rather than a private enterprise ; and Mr. Frederick Nixon then Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the Assembly, was invited to meet with the committee at Mr. Hewitt's home. Mr. Nixon had been from the beginning of his public career deeply interested in improving the farming conditions of the State. In 1894, it was through VI Handbook of Nature-Study his influence and the support given him by the Chautauqua Horticultural Society under the leadership of Mr. John W. Spencer, that an appropriation had been given to Cornell University for promoting the horticultural inter- ests of the western counties of the State. In addition to other work done through this appropriation, horticultural schools were conducted under the direction of Professor L. H. Bailey with the aid of other Cornell instructors and especially of Mr. E. G. Lodeman; these schools had proved to be most useful and were well attended. Therefore, Mr. Nixon was open- minded toward an educational movement. He listened to the plan of the committee and after due consideration declared that if this new measure would surely help the farmers of the State, the money would be forth- coming. The committee unanimously decided that if an appropriation were made for this purpose it should be given to the Cornell College of Agriculture; and that year eight thousand dollars was added to the Cornell University Fund, for Extension Teaching and inaugurating this work. The work was begun under Professor I. P. Roberts; after one year Professor Roberts placed it under the supervision of Professor L. H. Bailey, who for the fifteen years since has been the inspiring leader of the movement, as well as the official head. In 1896, Mr. John W. Spencer, a fruit grower in Chautauqua County, became identified with the enterprise; he had lived in rural communities and he knew their needs. He it was who first saw clearly that the first step in the great work was to help the teacher through simply written leaflets; and later he originated the great plan of organizing the children in the schools of the State into Junior Naturalists Clubs, which developed a remarkable phase of the movement. The members of these clubs paid their dues by writing letters about their nature observations to Mr. Spencer, who speedily became their beloved ‘‘Uncle John;” a button and charter were given for continued and earnest work. Some years, 30,000 children were thus brought into direct communication with Cornell University through Mr. Spencer. A monthly leaflet for Junior Naturalists followed; and it was to help in this enterprise that Miss Alice G. McCloskey, the able Editor of the present Rural School Leaflet, was brought into the work. Later, Mr. Spencer organized the children’s garden movement by forming the children of the State into junior gardeners; at one time he had 25,000 school pupils working in gardens and reporting to him. In 1899, Mrs. Mary Rogers Miller, who had proven a most efficient teacher when representing Cornell nature-study in the State Teachers’ Institutes, planned and started the Home Nature-Study Course Leaflets for the purpose of helping the teachers by correspondence, a work which fell to the author in 1903 when Mrs. Miller was called to other fields. For the many years during which New York State has intrusted this important work to Cornell University, the teaching of nature-study has Preface VII gone steadily on in the University, in teachers’ institutes, in State summer schools, through various publications and in correspondence courses. Many have assisted in this work, notably Dr. W. C. Thro, Dr. A. A. Allen, and Miss Ada Georgia. The New York Education Department with Charles R. Skinner as Commissioner of Education and Dr. Isaac Stout as the Director of Teachers’ Institutes co-operated heartily with the move- ment from the first. Later with the co-operation of Dr. Andrew Draper, as Commissioner of Education, many of the Cornell leaflets have been written with the special purpose of aiding in carrying out the New York State Syllabus in Nature-Study and Agriculture. The leaflets upon which this volume is based were published in the Home Nature-Study Course during the years 1903-191 1, in limited editions and were soon out of print. It is to make these lessons available to the general public that this volume has been compiled. While the subject matter of the lessons herein given is essentially the same as in the leaflets, the lessons have all been rewritten for the sake of consistency, and many new lessons have been added to bridge gaps and make a coherent whole. Because the lessons were written during a period of so many years, each lesson has been prepared as if it were the only one, and without reference to others. If there is any uniformity of plan in the lessons, it is due to the inherent qualities of the subjects, and not to a type plan in the mind of the writer; for, in her opinion, each subject should be treated individually in nature-study ; and in her long experience as a nature-study teacher she has never been able to give a lesson twice alike on a certain topic or secure exactly the same results twice in succession. It should also be stated that it is not because the author undervalues physics nature-study that it has been left out of these lessons, but because her own work has been always along biological lines. The reason why nature-study has not yet accomplished its mission, as thought-core for much of the required work in our public schools, is that the teachers are as a whole untrained in the subject. The children are eager for it, unless it is spoiled in the teaching; and whenever we find a teacher with an understanding of out-of-door life and a love for it, there we find nature-study in the school is an inspiration and a joy to pupils and teacher. It is because of the author’s sympathy with the untrained teacher and her full comprehension of her difficulties and helplessness that this book has been written. These difficulties are chiefly three-fold: The teacher does not know what there is to see in studying a plant or animal ; she knows little of the literature that might help her; and because she knows so little of the subject, she has no interest in giving a lesson about it. As a matter of fact, the literature concerning our common animals and plants is so scattered that a teacher would need a large library and almost unlimited time to prepare lessons for an extended nature-study course. VIII Handbook of Nature-Study The writer’s special work for fifteen years in Extension teaching has been the helping of the untrained teacher through personal instruction and through leaflets. Many methods were tried and finally there was evolved the method followed in this volume : All the facts available and pertinent concerning each topic have been assembled in the “Teacher’s story” to make her acquainted with the subject; this is followed by an outline for observa- tion on the part of the pupils while studying the object. It would seem that with the teacher’s story before the eyes of the teacher, and the subject of the lesson before the eyes of the pupils with a number of questions leading them to see the essential characteristics of the object, there should result a wider knowledge of nature than is given in this or any other book. That the lessons are given in a very informal manner, and that the style of writing is often colloquial, result from the fact that the leaflets upon which the book is based were written for a correspondence course in which the communications were naturally informal and chatty. That the book is meant for those untrained in science accounts for the rather loose termin- ology employed; as, for instance, the use of the word seed in the popular sense whether it be a drupe, an akene, or other form of fruit; or the use of the word pod for almost any seed envelope, and many like instances. Also, it is very likely, that in teaching quite incidentally the rudiments of the principles of evolution, the results may often seem to be confused with an idea of purpose, which is quite unscientific. But let the critic labor for fifteen years to interest the untrained adult mind in nature’s ways, before he casts any stones ! And it should be always borne in mind that if the author has not dipped deep in the wells of science, she has used only a child’s cup. For many years requests have been frequent from parents who have wished to give their children nature interests during vacations in the coun- try. They have been borne in mind in planning this volume; the lessons are especially fitted for field work, even though schoolroom methods are so often suggested. The author feels apologetic that the book is so large. However, it does not contain more than any intelligent country child of twelve should know of his environment; things that he should know naturally and without effort, although it might take him half his life-time to learn so much if he should not begin before the age of twenty. That there are inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and even blunders in the volume is quite inevitable. The only excuse to be offered is that, if through its use, the children of our land learn early to read nature’s truths with their own eyes, it will matter little to them what is written in books. The author wishes to make grateful acknowledgment to the following people: To Professor Wilford M. Wilson for his chapter on the weather; to Miss Mary E. Hill for the lessons on mould, bacteria, the minerals, and reading the weather maps; to Miss Catherine Straith for the lessons on Preface IX the earthworm and the soil; to Miss Ada Georgia for much valuable assistance in preparing the original leaflets on which these lessons are based; to Dean L. H. Bailey and to Dr. David S. Jordan for permission to quote their writings; to Mr. John W. Spencer for the use of his story on the movements of the sun; to Dr. Grove Karl Gilbert, Dr. A. C. Gill, Dr. Benjamin Duggar, Professor S. H. Gage and Dr. J. G. Needham for reading and criticizing parts of the manuscript; to Miss Eliza Tonks for reading the proof ; to the Director of the College of Agriculture for use of the engravings made for the original leaflets; to Miss Martha Van Rens- selaer for the use of many pictures from Boys and Girls; to Professor Cyrus Crosby, and to Messrs. J. T. Lloyd, A. A. Allen and R. Matheson for the use of their personal photographs; to the. U. S. Geological Survey and the U. S. Forest Service for the use of photographs; to Louis A. Fuertes for drawings of birds; to Houghton, Mifflin & Company for the use of the poems of Lowell, Harte and Larcom, and various extracts from Burroughs and Thoreau; to Small, Maynard & Company and to John Lane & Company for the use of poems of John T. Babb; to Doubleday, Page & Company for the use of pictures of birds and flowers ; and to the American Book Company for the use of electrotypes of dragon-flies and astronomy. Especially thanks are extended to Miss Anna C. Stryke for numerous drawings, including most of the initials TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I The Teaching of Nature-Study Page What Nature-Study is i What Nature-Study Should do for the Child i Nature-Study as a Help to Health 2 What Nature-Study Should do for the Teacher 2 When and Why the Teacher Should say “I do not know !” 3 Nature-Study, The Elixir of Youth 4 Nature-Study as a Help in School Discipline 4 The Relation of Nature-Study to Science 5 Nature-Study not for Drill 6 The Child not Interested in Nature-Study 6 When to Give the Lesson 6 The Length of the Lesson 7 The Nature-Study Lesson Always New 7 Nature-Study and Object Lessens 7 Nature-Study in the Schoolroom 8 Nature-Study and Museum Specimens 8 The Lens, Microscope and Field-glass as Helps 9 Use of Pictures, Charts and Blackboard Drawings 10 The Use of Scientific Names 10 The Story as a Supplement to the Nature-Study Lesson 10 The Nature-Study Attitude toward Life and Death 1 1 Should the N ature-Study Teacher Teach How to Destroy Life ? 13 The Field Note-book 13 The Field Excursion 15 Pets as Nature-Study Subjects 15 The Correlation of Nature-Study with Language Work 16 The Correlation of Nature-Study with Drawing 17 The Correlation of Nature-Study with Geography 18 The Correlation of Nature-Study with History 18 The Correlation of Nature-Study with Arithmetic 19 Gardening and Nature-Study 20 N ature-Study and Agriculture 21 Nature-Study Clubs 22 How to Use this Book 24 PART II Animal Life I Bird Study Beginning Bird Study in the Primary Grades 25 Feathers as Clothing 27 Feathers as Ornament 30 How Birds Fly 33 Eyes and Ears of Birds 36 xn Handbook of N atur e-Study Page The Form and Use of Beaks 37 The Feet of Birds 39 Chicken Ways 41 Pigeons 45 The Canary and the Goldfinch 49 The Robin 54 The Bluebird 60 The White-breasted Nuthatch 63 The Chickadee 66 The Downy W oodpecker 69 The Sapsucker 73 The Redheaded Woodpecker 75 The Flicker or Yellow-hammer 77 The Meadowlark 80 The English Sparrow 84 The Chipping Sparrow 88 The Song Sparrow 91 The Mockingbird 94 The Catbird 98 The Belted Kingfisher 101 The Screech Owl 104 The Red Shouldered and Red Tailed Hawks 108 The Swallows and the Chimney Swift 1 1 2 The Hummingbird 120 The Red- winged Blackbird 122 The Baltimore Oriole 125 The Crow 129 The Cardinal Grosbeak 133 Geese 136 The T urkey 143 The Study of Birds’ Nests in Winter 147 II Fish Study The Goldfish 149 The Bullhead 154 The Common Sucker 158 The Shiner. 161 Brook Trout 164 The Stickleback 168 The Sunfish 172 The Johnny Darter 177 III Batrachian Study The Common Toad 181 The T adpole Aquarium 185 The T ree-f rog or Tree-toad 190 The Frog 193 The Newt, Eft or Salamander 197 IV Reptile Study The Garter or Garden Snake 201 The Milk Snake, or Spotted Adder 204 Table of Contents XIII Page The Water Snake 206 The Turtle . . . 208 V Mammal Study The Cotton-tail Rabbit 213 The Muskrat 218 The House Mouse 224 The W oodchuck 229 The Red Squirrel or Chickaree 233 Furry 238 The Chipmunk 240 The Little Brown Bat 243 The Skunk 247 The Raccoon 250 The Wolf 255 The Fox 257 Dogs 261 - The Cat 268^ The Goat 275 The Sheep 281 The Horse 286 Cattle 295 The Pig 303 VI Insect Study The Life History of Insects 308 The Structure of Insects 312 The Black Swallow-tail Butterfly 315 The Monarch Butterfly 320 The Isabella Tiger Moth or Woolly Bear w 326 TheCecropia 330 ThePromethea 336 The Hummingbird, or Sphinx, Moths 340 The Codling Moth 347 Leaf-miners 352 The Leaf-rollers 357 The Gall-dwellers 360 The Grasshopper 365 The Katydid 370 The Black Cricket 373 The Snowy Tree-cricket 377 The Cockroach 378 How to Make an Aquarium for Insects 380 The Dragon-flies and Damsel-flies 382 The Caddis- worms and the Caddis-flies 387 The Aphids or Plant Lice 392 The Ant-lion 395 Mother Lace- wing and the Aphis-lion 397 The Mosquito 400 The House-fly 405 The Colorado Potato-beetle 409 xiv Handbook of N atur e-Study Page V The Ladybird 413 The Firefly 416 The W ays of the Ant 419 How to Make a Lubbock Ant-Nest 423 The Ant-Nest and What May be Seen Within it 425 The Mud-dauber 429 The Yellow- jacket 432 The Leaf-cutter Bee 436 The Little Carpenter Bee 439 The Bumblebee 442 The H oney-bee 445 The Honey-comb 451 Industries of the Hive and the Observation Hive 453 VII Other Invertebrate- Animal Study The Garden Snail 458 The Earthworm 462 The Crayfish ' 466 Daddy Longlegs, or Grandfather Greybeard > 472 Spiders 475 The Funnel- web 477 The Orb-web 478 The Filmy Dome 483 Ballooning Spiders 484 The White Crab-Spider 485 How the Spider Mothers Take Care of their Young 487 PART III Plant Life How to Begin the Study of Plants and Flowers 489 How to Make Plants Comfortable 490 How to Teach the Names of the Parts of a Flower 492 Teach the Use of a Flower 493 Flowers and Insect Partners 494 The Relation of Plants to Geography . 495 Seed Germination 495 I Wild-flower Study The Hepatica 496 The Yellow Adder’s Tongue 499 Bloodroot 503 The Trillium 506 Dutchman’s Breeches and Squirrel Corn 509 Jack-in- the- Pulpit 512 The Violet 515 The May Apple or M andrake 519 The Bluets 523 The Yellow Lady’s Slipper, or Moccasin Flower 525 The Common Buttercup 528 The Evening Primrose 530 Table of Contents xv Page The Hedge Bindweed 535 The Dodder 53$ The Milkweed 54° The White Water Lily c. 545 Pondweed 54$ The Cat-tail 55 1 A Type Lesson for a Composite Flower 554 TheGoldenrod 555 The Asters 55 8 The White Daisy 560 The Yellow Daisy or Black-eyed Susan 562 The Thistle 563 The Burdock 566 Prickly Lettuce, A Compass Plant 57° '’'he Dandelion 572 "I 'he Pearly Everlasting 576 The Jewelweed, or Touch-me-not 57$ Mullein 582 The Teasel 586 Queen Anne’s Lace, or Wild Carrot 589 Weeds 594 Outline for the Study of a Weed 595 II Cultivated-Plant Study The Crocus 596 Daffodils and their Relatives 599 The Tulip 603 The Pansy 60 7 The Bleeding Heart 611 Poppies 613 The California Poppy 616 The Nasturtium 620 The Bee-Larkspur 623 The Blue Flag, or Iris 626 The Sunflower 631 The Bachelor’s Button 636 The Salvia or Scarlet Sage 637 Petunias 640 The Horseshoe Geranium 643 The Sweet Pea 649 The Clovers 652 Sweet Clover 655 The White Clover 658 Maize, or Indian Corn 660 The Cotton Plant 666 The Strawberry 672 The Pumpkin 675 III Flowerless-Plant Study The Christmas Fern 684 The Bracken 689 How a Fern Bud Unfolds 691 XVI Handbook of N alur e-Study Pago The Fruiting of the Fern 693 The Field Horsetail 699 The Hair-cap Moss, or Pigeon Wheat 702 Mushrooms and other F ungi 706 Puffballs 712 The Bracket Fungi 714 Hedgehog Fungi 717 The Scarlet Saucer 718 The Morels 719 The Stinkhorns 720 Molds 720 Bacteria 723 IV Tree Study How a Tree Grows 726 How to Begin Tree Study 731 How to Make Leaf Prints 734 The Maples 736 The American Elm 745 The Oak 748 The Shagbark Hickory 755 The Chestnut 757 The Horse-Chestnut 761 The Willows 765 The Cottonwood or Carolina Poplar 770 The White Ash 774 The Apple Tree 778 How an Apple Grows 782 The Apple 785 The Pine 789 The Norway Spruce 796 The Hemlock 801 The Flowering Dogwood 803 The Staghorn Sumac 806 The Witch-Hazel 810 The Mountain Laurel 813 PART IV Earth and Sky The Brook 818 How a Brook Drops its Load 822 Crystal Growth 825 Salt 827 How to Study Minerals 828 Quartz 829 Feldspar 831 Mica 832 Granite 833 Calcite, marble and Limestone 835 The Magnet 838 The Soil. 842 Table of Contents XVII Page Water Forms 850 The Weather 857 Experiments to Show Air Pressure 877 The Barometer 878 How to read Weather Maps 879 The Story of the Stars 887 How to Begin Star Study 889 Cassiopeia’s Chair, Cepheus and the Dragon 893 The Winter Stars 895 Orion 895 Aldebaran and the Pleiades 897 The Two Dog-Stars, Sirius and Procyon 898 Capella and the Heavenly Twins > 900 The Stars of Summer 901 The Sun , 905 The Relation between the Tropic of Cancer and the Planting of the Garden 909 The Zodiac and its Signs 9 1 1 The Relations of the Sun to the Earth . 913 How to Make a Sun-dial 915 The Moon .................. ......... 918 In N ature’s infinite book of secrecy A little can I read. — Shakespeare. PART 1. THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY WHAT NATURE-STUDY IS ATURE-STUDY is, despite all discussions and perver- sions, a study of nature; it consists of simple, truthful observations that may, like beads on a string, finally be threaded upon the understanding and thus held together as a logical and harmonious whole. Therefore, the object of the nature-study teacher should be to cultivate in the children powers of accurate observation and to build up within them, understanding. WHAT NATURE-STUDY SHOULD DO FOR THE CHILD IRST, but not most important, nature-study gives the child practical and helpful knowledge. It makes him familiar with nature’s ways and forces, so that he is not so helpless in the presence of natural misfortune and disasters. Nature-study cultivates the child’s imagination since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes, which affect his imagination as much as does fairy lore ; at the same time nature-study cultivates in him a perception and a regard for what is true, and the power to express it. All things seem possible in nature ; yet this seeming is always guarded by the eager quest of what is true. Perhaps, half the falsehood in the world is due to lack of power to detect the truth and to express it. Nature-study aids both in discernment and expression of things as they are. Nature-study cultivates in the child a love of the beautiful; it brings to him early a perception of color, form and music. He sees whatever there is in his environment, whether it be the .thunder-head piled up in the western sky, or the golden flash of the oriole in the elm ; whether it be the purple of the shadows on the snow, or the azure glint on the wing of the little butterfly. Also, what there is of sound, he hears; he reads the music score of the bird orchestra, separating each part and knowing which bird sings it. And the patter of the rain, the gurgle of the brook, the sighing of the wind in the pine, he notes and loves and becomes en- riched thereby. But, more than all, nature-study gives the child a sense of companion- ship with life out of doors and an abiding love of nature. Let this latter be the teacher’s criterion for judging his or her work. If nature-study as taught does not make the child love nature and the out-of-doors, then it should cease. Let us not inflict permanent injury on the child by turning him away from nature instead of toward it. However, if the love of nature is in the teacher’s heart, there is no danger; such a teacher, no 2 Handbook of N ature -Study matter by what method, takes the child gently by the hand and walks with him in paths that lead to the seeing and comprehending of what he may find beneath his feet or above his head. And these paths whether they lead among the lowliest plants, or whether to the stars, finally con- verge and bring the wanderer to that serene peace and hopeful faith that is the sure inheritance of all those who realize fully that they are working units of this wonderful universe. NATURE-STUDY AS A HELP TO HEALTH ERHAPS the most valuable practical lesson the child gets from nature-study is a personal knowledge that nature’s laws are not to be evaded. Wherever he looks, he dis- covers that attempts at such evasion result in suffering and death. A knowledge thus naturally attained of the immutability of nature’s “must” and “shall not” is in itself a moral education. That the fool as well as the transgressor fares ill in breaking natural laws, makes for wisdom in morals as well as in hygiene. Out-of-door life takes the child afield and keeps him in the open air, which not only helps him physically and occupies his mind with sane subjects, but keeps him out of mischief. It is not only during childhood that this is true, for love of nature counts much for sanity in later life. This is an age of nerve tension, and the relaxation which comes from the comforting companionship found in woods and fields is, without doubt, the best remedy for this condition. Too many men wTho seek the out-of- doors for rest at the present time, can only find it with a gun in hand. To rest and heal their nerves they must go out and try to kill some unfor- tunate creature, — the old, old story of sacrificial blood. Far better will it be when, through properly training the child, the man shall be enabled to enjoy nature through seeing how creatures live rather than watching them die. It is the sacred privilege of nature-study to do this for future generations and for him thus trained, shall the words of Longfellow’s poem to Agassiz apply : “ And he wandered away and away, with Nature the dear old nurse, Who sang to him night and day, the rhymes of the universe. And when the way seemed long, and his heart began to fail. She sang a more wonderful song, or told a more wonderful tale.” WHAT NATURE-STUDY SHOULD DO FOR THE TEACHER URING many years, I have been watching teachers in our public schools in their conscientious and ceaseless work; and so far as I can foretell, the fate that awaits them finally is either nerve exhaustion or nerve atrophy. The "teacher must become either a neurasthenic or a “clam.” I have had conversations with hundreds of teachers in the public schools of New York State concerning the introduction of nature-study into the curriculum, and most of them declared, “Oh, we have not time for it. Every moment is full now!” Their nerves were at such a tension that with one more thing to do they must fall apart. The question in my own mind during these conversations was always, how long can she The Teaching of N atur e-Study 3 stand it ! I asked some of them “Did you ever try a vigorous walk in the open air in the open country every Saturday or every Sunday of your teaching year?” “Oh no!” they exclaimed in despair of making me understand. “On Sunday we must go to church or see our friends and on Saturday we must do our shopping or our sewing. We must go to the dressmaker’s lest we go unclad, we must mend, and darn stockings; we need Saturday to catch up.” Yes, catch up with more cares, more worries, more fatigue, but not with more growth, more strength, more vigor and more courage for work. In my belief, there are two and only two occupations for Saturday after- noon or forenoon for a teacher. One is to be out of doors and the other is to lie in bed, and the first is best. Out in this, God’s beautiful world, there is everything waiting to heal lacerated nerves, to strengthen tired muscles, to please and content the soul that is torn to shreds with duty and care. To the teacher who turns to nature’s healing, nature-study in the schoolroom is not a trouble; it is a sweet, fresh breath of air blown across the heat of radiators and the noisome odor of over-crowded small humanity. She, who opens her eyes and her heart nature-ward even once a week, finds nature-study in the schoolroom a delight and an abiding joy. What does such a one find in her schoolroom instead of the terrors of discipline, the eternal watching and eternal nagging to keep the pupils quiet and at work? She finds, first of all, companionship with her children; and second, she finds that without planning or going on a far voyage, she has found health and strength. WHEN AND WHY THE TEACHER SHOULD SAY “i DO NOT KNOW” m O SCIENCE professor in any university, if he be a man of 1\ high attainment, hesitates to say to his pupils “I do I \ L*#> not know,” if they ask for information beyond his I knowledge. The greater his scientific reputation and ^ erudition, the more readily, simply and without apology he says this. He, better than others, comprehends how vast is the region that lies beyond man’s present knowledge. It is only the teacher in the elementary schools who has never received enough scientific training to reveal to her how little she does know, who feels that she must appear to know everything or her pupils will lose confidence in her. But how useless is this pretence, in nature-study ! The pupils, whose younger eyes are much keener for details than hers, will soon discover her limitations and then their distrust of her will be real. In nature-study any teacher can with honor say, “I do not know;” for perhaps, the question asked is as yet unanswered by the great scientists. But she should not let her lack of knowledge be a wet blanket thrown over her pupils’ interest. She should say frankly, “I do not know; let us see if we cannot together find out this mysterious thing. Maybe no one knows it as yet, and I wonder if you will discover it before I do.” She thus conveys the right impression, that only a little about the intricate life of plants and animals is yet known ; and at the same time she makes her pupils feel the thrill and zest of investigation. Nor will she lose their respect by doing this, if she does it in the right spirit. For three years, I had for comrades in my walks afield, two little children and they kept me 4 Handbook of Nature-Study busy saying, “ I do not know’ ’ . But they never lost confidence in me or in my knowledge; they simply gained respect for the vastness of the un- known. The chief charm of nature-study would be taken away if it did not lead us through the border-land of knowledge into the realm of the undiscovered. Moreover, the teacher, in confessing her ignorance and at the same time her interest in a subject, establishes between herself and her pupils a sense of companionship which relieves the strain of discipline, and gives her a new and intimate relation with her pupils which will surely prove a potent element in her success. The best teacher is always one who is the good comrade of her pupils. NATURE-STUDY, THE ELIXIR OF YOUTH HE old teacher is too likely to become didactic, dogmatic and “bossy” if she does not constantly strive with herself. Why? She has to be thus five days in the week and, therefore, she is likely to be so seven. She knows arith- metic, grammar and geography to their uttermost and she is never allowed to forget that she knows them, and finally her interests become limited to what she knows. After all, what is the chief sign of growing old? Is it not the feeling that we know all there is to be known ? It is not years which make people old; it is ruts, and a limitation of interests. When we no longer care about anything except our own interests, we are then old, it matters not whether our years be twenty or eighty. It is rejuvenation for the teacher, thus growing old, to stand ignorant as a child in the presence of one of the simplest of nature’s miracles — the formation of a crystal, the evolution of the butterfly from the caterpillar, the exquisite adjustment of the silken lines in the spider’s orb-web. I know how to “make magic” for the teacher who is growing old. Let her go out with her youngest pupil and fall on her knees before the miracle of the blossoming violet and say: “Dear Nature, I know naught of the wondrous life of these, your smallest creatures. Teach me !” and she will suddenly find herself young. NATURE-STUDY AS A HELP IN SCHOOL DISCIPLINE _ jflf UCH of the naughtiness in school is a result of the child’s lack of interest in his work, augmented by the physical inaction that results from an attempt to sit quietly. The 1^1 best teachers try to obviate both of these rather than to V ^ punish because of them. Nature-study is an aid in both respects, since it keeps the child interested and also gives him something to do. In the nearest approach to an ideal school that I have ever seen, for children of second grade, the pupils were allowed, as a reward of merit, to visit the aquaria or the terrarium for periods of five minutes, which time was given to the blissful observation of the fascinating prisoners. The teacher also allowed the reading of stories about the plants and animals under observation to be regarded as a reward of merit. As I entered the schoolroom, there were eight or ten of the children at the windows watch- ing eagerly what was happening to the creatures confined there in the various cages. There was a mud aquarium for the frogs and salamanders, The Teaching of Nature-Study 5 an aquarium for fish, many small aquaria for insects and each had one or two absorbingly interested spectators who were quiet, well behaved and were getting their nature-study lessons in an ideal manner. The teacher told me that the problem of discipline was solved by this method, and that she was rarely obliged to rebuke or punish. In many other schools, watching the living creatures in the aquaria, or terrarium has been used as a reward for other work well done. THE RELATION OF NATURE-STUDY TO SCIENCE ATURE-STUDY is not elementary science as so taught, I Safe . because its point of attack is not the same ; error in this tlMli1/ respect has caused many a teacher to abandon nature- study and many a pupil to hate it. In elementary science work begins with the simplest animals and plants and progresses logically through to the highest forms ; at least this is the method pursued in most universities and schools. The object of the study is to give the pupils an outlook over all the forms of life and their relation one to another. In nature-study the work begins with any plant or creature which chances to interest the pupil. It begins with the robin when it comes back to us in March, promising spring; or it begins with the maple leaf which flutters to the ground in all the beauty of its autumnal tints. A course in biological science leads to the comprehension of all kinds of life upon our globe. Nature-study is for the comprehension of the individual life of the bird, insect or plant that is nearest at hand. Nature-study is perfectly good science within its limits, but it is not meant to be more profound or comprehensive than the capabilities of the child’s mind. More than all, nature-study is not science belittled as if it were to be looked at through the reversed opera glass in order to bring it down small enough for the child to play with. Nature-study, as far as it goes, is just as large as is science for “grown-ups” and may deal with the same subject matter and should be characterized by the same accuracy. It simply does not go so far. To illustrate : If we are teaching the science of ornithology, we take first the Archaeopteryx, then the swimming and the scratching birds and finally reach the song birds, studying each as a part of the whole. Nature- study begins with the robin because the child sees it and is interested in it and he notes the things about the habits and appearance of the robin that may be perceived by intimate observation. In fact, he discovers for him- self all that the most advanced book of ornithology would give concerning the ordinary habits of this one bird; the next bird studied may be the turkey in the barnyard, or the duck on the pond, or the screech-owl in the spruces, if any of these happen to impinge upon his notice and interest. However, such nature-study makes for the best of scientific ornithology, because by studying the individual birds thus thoroughly, the pupil finally studies a sufficient number of forms so that his knowledge, thus assembled, gives him a better comprehension of birds as a whole than could be obtained by the routine study of the same. Nature-study does not start out with the classification given in books, but in the end it builds up a classification in the child’s mind which is based on fundamental knowledge; it is a classification like that evolved by the first naturalists, it is built on careful personal observations of both form and life. 6 Handbook of Nature-Study NATURE-STUDY NOT FOR DRILL If nature-study is made a drill, its pedagogic value is lost. When it is properly taught, the child is unconscious of mental effort or that he is suffering the act of teaching. As soon as nature-study becomes a task, it should be dropped; but how could it ever be a task to see that the sky is blue, or the dandelion golden, or to listen to the oriole in the elm! THE CHILD NOT INTERESTED IN NATURE-STUDY HAT to do with the pupil not interested in nat- ure-study subjects is a problem that confronts many earnest teachers. Usually the reason for this lack of interest, is the limited range of sub- jects-used for nature-study lessons. Often the teacher insists upon flowers as the lesson subject, when toads or snakes would prove the key to the door of the child’s interest. But whatever the cause may be, there is only one right way out of this difficulty : The child not interested should be kept at his regular school work and not admitted as a member of the nature-study class, where his influence is always demoralizing. He had much bet- ter be learning his spelling lesson than learn- ing to hate nature through being obliged to study subjects in which he is not interested. In general, it is safe to assume that the pupil’s lack of interest in nature-study is owing to a fault in the teacher’s method. She may be trying to fill the child’s mind with facts when she should be leading him to observe these for himself, which is a most entertaining occupation for the child. It should always be borne in mind that mere curiosity is always impertinent, and that it is never more so than when exercised in the realm of nature. A genuine interest should be the basis of the study of the lives of plants and lower animals. Curiosity may elicit facts, but only real interest may mold these facts into wisdom. WHEN TO GIVE THE LESSON HERE are two theories concerning the time when a nature- study lesson should be given. Some teachers believe that it should be a part of the regular routine; others have found it of greatest value if reserved for that period of the school day when the pupils are weary and restless, and the teacher’s nerves strained to the snapping point. The lesson on a tree, insect or flower at such a moment affords immedi- ate relief to everyone; it is a mental excursion, from which all return refreshed and ready to finish the duties of the day. While I am convinced that the use of the nature-study lesson for mental refreshment makes it of greatest value, yet I realize fully that if it is relegated to such perio.ds, it may not be given at all. It might be better to give it a regular period late in the day, for there is strength and sureness in regularity. The teacher is much more likely to prepare her- self for the lesson, if she knows that it is required at a certain time. The Teaching of Nature-Study 7 THE LENGTH OF THE LESSON ^fffJTlKRE nature-study lesson should be short and sharp and may vary from ten minutes to a half hour in length. There should be no dawdling; if it is an observation lesson, only a few points should be noted and the meaning for the ob- servations made clear. If an outline be suggested for field observation, it should be given in an inspiring man- ner which shall make each pupil anxious to see and read the truth for himself. The nature story when properly read is never finished ; it is always at an interesting point, “continued in our next.” The teacher may judge as to her own progress in nature-study by the length of time she is glad to spend in reading from nature’s book what is therein written. As she progresses, she finds those hours spent in study- ing nature speed faster, until a day thus spent seems but an hour. The author can think of nothing she would so gladly do as to spend days and months with the birds, bees and flowers with no obligation for telling what she should see. There is more than mere information in hours thus spent. Lowell describes them well when he says : “Those old days when the balancing of a yellow butterfly o'er a thistle bloom Was spiritual food and lodging for the whole afternoon." THE NATURE-STUDY LESSON ALWAYS NEW A nature-study lesson should not be repeated unless the pupils demand it. It should be done so well the first time that there is no need of repetition, because it has thus become a part of the child’s conscious- ness. The repetition of the same lesson in different grades was, to begin with, a hopeless incubus upon nature-study. One disgusted boy declared, “Darn germination ! I had it in the primary and last year and now I am having it again. I know all about germination. ” The boy’s attitude was a just one ; but if there had been revealed to him the meaning of germina- tion, instead of the mere process, he would have realized that until he had planted and observed every plant in the world he would not know all about germination, because each seedling has its own interesting story. The only excuse for repeating a nature-study lesson is in recalling it for comparison and contrast with other lessons. The study of the violet will naturally bring about a review of the pansy; the dandelion, of the sun- flower; the horse, of the donkey; the butterfly, of the moth. NATURE-STUDY AND OBJECT LESSONS HE object lesson method was introduced to drill the child to see a thing accurately, not only as a whole, but in detail and to describe accurately what he saw. A book or a vase or some other object was held up before the class for a moment and then removed ; afterwards the pupils described it as perfectly as possible. This is an excellent exercise and the children usually enjoy it as if it were a game. But if the teacher has in mind the same thought when she is giv- ing the nature-study lesson, she has little comprehension of the meaning of the latter and the pupils will have less. In nature-study, it is not de- sirable that the child see all the details, but rather those details that have something to do with the life of the creature studied ; if he sees that the & Handbook of Nature-Study grasshopper has the hind legs much longer than the others, he will inev- itably note that there are two other pairs of legs and he will in the meantime have come into an illuminating comprehension of the reason the insect is called “grasshopper.” The child should see definitely and accurately all that is necessary for the recognition of a plant or animal; but in nature-study, the observation of form is for the purpose of better understanding life. In fact, it is form linked with life, the relation of “being” to “doing.” NATURE-STUDY IN THE SCHOOLROOM ANY subjects for nature-study lessons may be brought into the schoolroom. Whenever it is possible, the pupils should themselves bring the material, as the collecting of it is an important part of the lesson. There should be in the schoolroom conveniences for caring for the little prisoners brought in from thefield. The terrarium and breeding cages, of different kinds should be pro- vided for the insects, toads and little mammals. Here they may live in comfort, when given their natural food, while the children observe their interesting ways. The ants’ nest, and the observation hive yield fascinating views of the marvelous lives of the insect socialists, while the cheerful prisoner in the bird cage may be made a constant illustration of the adaptations and habits of all birds. The aquaria for fishes, tadpoles and insects afford the opportunity for continuous study of these water creatures and are a never-failing source of interest to the pupils, while the window garden may be made not only an ornament and an aesthetic delight, but a basis for interesting study of plant growth and development. A schoolroom thus equipped is a place of delight as well as enlighten- ment to the children. Once, a boy whose luxurious home was filled with all that money could buy and educated tastes select, said of a little nature- study laboratory which was in the unfinished attic of a school building, but which was teeming with life : “I think this is the most beautiful room in the world.” NATURE-STUDY AND MUSEUM SPECIMENS HE matter of museum specimens is another question for the nature-study teacher to solve, and has a direct bearing on an attitude toward taking life. There are many who believe the stuffed bird or the case of pinned insects have no place in nature-study; and certainly these should not be the chief material. But let us use our common sense ; the boy sees a bird in the woods or field and does not know its name ; he seeks the bird in the museum and thus is able to place it and read about it and is stimulated to make other observations concerning it. Wherever the museum is a help to the study of life in the field, it is well and good. Some teachers may give a live les- son from a stuffed specimen, and other teachers may stuff their pupils with facts about a live specimen; of the two, the former is preferable. There is no question that making a collection of insects is an efficient way of developing the child’s powers of close observation, as well as of giving him manual dexterity in handling fragile things.. Also it is a false sentiment which attributes to an insect the same agony at being The Teaching of Nature-Study 9 impaled on a pin that we might suffer at being thrust through by a stake. The insect nervous system is far more conveniently arranged for such an ordeal than ours; and, too, the cyanide bottle brings immediate and pain- less death to the insects placed within it; moreover, the insects usually collected have short lives anyway. So far as the child is concerned, he is thinking of his collection of moths or butterflies and not at all of taking life; so it is not teaching him to wantonly destroy living creatures. However, an indiscriminate encouragement of the making of insect col- lections cannot be advised. There are some children who will profit by it and some who will not, and unquestionably the best kind of study of insects is watching their interesting ways while they live. To kill a creature in order to prepare it for a nature-study lesson is not only wrong but absurd, for nature-study has to do with life rather than death, and the form of any creature is interesting only when its adapta- tions for life are studied. But again, a nature-study teacher may be an opportunist ; if without any volition on her part or the pupils’, a freshly killed specimen comes to hand, she should make the most of it. The writer remembers most illuminating lessons from a partridge that broke a window and its neck simultaneously during its flight one winter night, a yellow hammer that killed itself against an electric wire, and a muskrat that turned its toes to the skies for no understandable reason. In each of these cases the creature’s special physical adaptations for living its own peculiar life were studied, and the effect was not the study of a dead thing, but of a successful and wonderful life. THE LENS, MICROSCOPE AND FIELD GLASS AS HELPS IN NATURE-STUDY JN elementary grades, nature-study deals with objects which the children can see with the naked eye. However, a lens is a help in almost all of this work because it is such a joy to the child to gaze at the wonders it reveals. There is no .g lesson given in this book which requires more than a simple lens for seeing the most minute parts discussed. An ex- cellent lens may be bought for a dollar, and a fairly good one for fifty cents or even twenty-five cents. The lens should be chained to a table or desk where it may be used by the pupils at recess. This gives each an opportunity for using it and obviates the danger of losing it. If the pupils themselves own lenses, they should be fastened by a string or chain to the pocket. A microscope has no legitimate part in nature-study. But if there is one available, it reveals so many wonders in the commonest objects, that it can be made a source of added interest ofttimes. For instance, to thus see the scales on the butterfly’s wing affords the child pleasure as well as edification. Field or opera glasses, while indispensible for bird study, are by no means necessary in nature-study. However, the pupils will show greater interest in noting the birds’ colots if they are allowed to make the observations with the help of a glass. IO Handbook of Nature-Study USES OF PICTURES, CHARTS AND BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS ICTURES alone should never be used as the subjects for nature-study lessons, but they may be of great use in illustrating and illuminating a lesson. Books well illus- trated are more readily comprehended by the child and are often very helpful to him, especially after his interest in the subject is thoroughly aroused. If charts are used to illustrate the lesson, the child is likely to be misled by the size of the drawing, which is also the case in blackboard pictures. However, this error may be avoided by fixing the attention of the pupil on the object first. If the pupils are studying the ladybird and have it in their hands, the teacher may use a diagram representing the beetle as a foot long and it will still convey the idea accurately ; but if she begins with the pict- ure, she probably can never convince the children that the picture has anything to do with the insect. In making blackboard drawings illustrative of the lesson, it is best, if possible, to have one of the pupils do the drawing in the presence of the class; or, if the teacher does the drawing, she should hold the object in her hand while doing it and look at it often so that the children may see that she is trying to represent it accurately. Taking everything into consideration, however, nature-study charts and blackboard drawings are of little use to the nature-study teacher. THE USES OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES ISQUIETING problems relative to scientific nomenclature always confront the teacher of nature-study. My own practice has been to use the popular names of species, except in cases where confusion might ensue, and to use the scientific names for anatomical parts. However, this matter is of little importance if the teacher bears in mind that the purpose of nature-study is to know the subject under obser- vation and to learn the name incidentally. If the teacher says : “I have a pink hepatica. Can anyone find me a blue one?” the children, who naturally like grown-up words, will soon be calling these flowers hepaticas. But if the teacher says, “These flowers are called hepaticas. Now please everyone remember the name. Write it in your books as I write it on the blackboard, and in half an hour I shall ask you again what it is,” the pupils naturally look upon the exercise as a word lesson and its real significance is lost. This sort of nature-study is dust and ashes and there has been too much of it. The child should never be required to learn the name of anything in the nature-study work ; but the name should be used so often and so naturally in his presence, that he will learn it without being conscious of the process. THE STORY AS A SUPPLEMENT TO THE NATURE-STUDY LESSON ANY of the subjects for nature lessons can be studied only in part, since but one phase may be available at the time. Often, especially if there is little probability that the pupils will find opportunity to complete the study, it is best to round out their knowledge by reading or telling the story to supplement the facts which they have discov- The Teaching of Nature-Study ii ered for themselves. This story should not be told as a finality or as a complete picture but as a guide and inspiration for further study. Always leave at the end of the story an interrogation mark that will remain ag- gressive and insistent in the child’s mind. To illustrate: Once a club of junior naturalists brought me rose leaves injured by the leaf-cutter bee and asked me why the leaves were cut out so regularly. I told them the story of the use made by the mother bee of these oval and cir- cular bits of leaves and made the account as vital as I was able ; but at the end I said, “I do not know which species of bee cut these leaves. She is living here among us and building her nest with your rose leaves which she is cutting every day almost under your very eyes. Is she then so much more clever than you that you cannot see her nor find her nest?” For two years following this lesson I received letters from mem- bers of this club. Two carpenter bees and their nests were discovered by them and studied before the mysterious leaf-cutter was finally ferreted out. My story had left something interesting for the young naturalists to discover. The children should be impressed with the fact that the nature story is never finished. There is not a weed nor an insect nor a tree so common that the child, by observing carefully, may not see things never yet recorded in scientific books; therefore the supplementary story should be made an inspiration for keener interest and further investi- gation on the part of the pupil. The supplementary story simply thrusts aside some of the obscuring underbrush thus revealing more plainly the path to further knowledge. THE NATURE-STUDY ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE AND DEATH ERHAPS no greater danger besets the pathway of the nature-study teacher than the question involved in her pupils’ attitude toward life and death. To inculcate in the child a reverence for life and yet to keep him from becoming mawkish and morbid is truly a problem. It is almost inevitable that the child should become sym- pathetic with the life of the animal or plant studied, since a true understanding of the life of any creature creates an interest which stimulates a desire to protect this particular creature and make its life less hard. Many times, within my own ex- perience, have I known boys, who began by robbing birds’ nests for egg collections, to end by becoming most zealous protectors of the birds. The humane qualities within these boys budded and blossomed in the growing knowledge of the lives of the birds. At Cornell University, it is a well known fact that those students who turn aside so as not to crush the ant, caterpillar or cricket on the pavement are almost invariably those that are studying entomology; and in America it is the botanists themselves who are leading the crusade for flower protection. Thus, the nature-study teacher, if she does her work well, is a sure aid in inculcating a respect for the rights of all living beings to their own lives ; and she needs only to lend her influence gently in this direction to change carelessness to thoughtfulness and cruelty to kindness. But with this impetus toward a reverence for life, the teacher soon finds herself in a dilemma from which there is no logical way out, so long as she lives in a world where lamb chop, beefsteak and roast chicken are articles of ordi- 12 Handbook of Nature-Study nary diet; a world in fact, where every meal is based upon the death of some creature. For if she places much emphasis upon the sacredness of life, the children soon begin to question whether it be right to slay the lamb or the chicken for their own food. It would seem that there is nothing for the consistent nature-study teacher to do but become a vegetarian, and even then there might arise refinements in this question of taking life, she might have to consider the cruelty to asparagus in cutting it off in plump infancy, or the ethics of devouring in the turnip the food laid up by the mother plant to perfect her seed. In fact, a most rigorous diet would be forced upon the teacher who should refuse to sus- tain her own existence at the cost of life; and if she should attempt to teach the righteousness of such a diet she would undoubtedly forfeit her position; and yet what is she to do! She will soon find herself in the position of a certain lady who placed sheets of sticky fly-paper around her kitchen to rid her house of flies, and then in mental anguish picked off the buzzing, struggling victims and sought to clean their too adhesive wings and legs. In fact, drawing the line between what to kill and what to let live, requires the use of common sense rather than logic. First of all, the nature-study teacher, while exemplifying and encouraging the humane attitude toward the lower creatures, and repressing cruelty which wantonly causes suffering, should never magnify the terrors of death. Death is as natural as life and the inevitable end of physical life on our globe. Therefore, every story and every sentiment expressed which makes the child feel that death is terrible, is wholly wrong. The one right way to teach about death is not to emphasize it one way or another, but to deal with it as a circumstance common to all; it should be no more emphasized than the fact that creatures eat or fall asleep. Another thing for the nature-study teacher to do is to direct the interest of the child so that it shall center upon the hungry creature rather than upon the one which is made into the meal. It is well to emphasize the fact that one of the conditions imposed upon every living being in the woods and fields, is that it is entitled to a meal when it is hungry, if it is clever enough to get it. The child naturally takes this view of it. I remember well as a child I never thought particularly about the mouse which my cat was eating; in fact, the process of transmuting mouse into cat seemed altogether proper, but when the cat played with the mouse, that was quite another thing, and was never permitted. Although no one appreciates more deeply than I the debt which we owe to Thompson-Seton and writers of his kind, who have placed before the public the animal story from the animal point of view and thus set us all to thinking, yet it is certainly wrong .to impress this view too strongly upon the young and sensitive child. In fact, this process should not begin until the judgment and the understanding is well developed, for we all know that although seeing the other fellow’s standpoint is a source of strength and breadth of mind, yet living the other fellow’s life is, at best, an enfeebling process and a futile waste of energy. The Teaching of N ature-Study 13 SHOULD THE NATURE-STUDY TEACHER TEACH HOW TO DESTROY LIFE ? FT IS probably within the proper scope of the nature-study — x teacher to place emphasis upon the domain of man, who being the most powerful of all animals, asserts his will as to which ones shall live in his midst. From a standpoint of abstract justice, the stray cat has just as much right to kill and eat the robin which builds in the vine of my porch as the robin has to pull and eat the earthworms from my lawn; but the place is mine, and I choose to kill the cat and preserve the robin. When emphasizing the domain of man, we may have to deal with the killing of creatures which are injurious to his interests. Nature-study may be tributary to this, in a measure, and indirectly, but it is surely not nature-study. For example, the child studies the cabbage butterfly in all its stages, the exquisitely sculptured yellow egg, the velvety green caterpillar, the chrysalis with its protecting colors, the white- winged butterfly, and becomes interested in the life of the insect. Not under any consideration, when the attention of the child is focused on the insect, should we suggest a remedy for it when a pest. Let the life-story of the butterfly stand as a fascinating page of nature’s book. But later, when the child enters on his career as a gardener, when he sets out his row of cabbage plants and waters and cultivates them, and does his best to bring them to maturity, along comes the butterfly, now an arch enemy, and begins to rear her progeny on the product of his toil. Now the child’s interest is focused on the cabbage, and the question is not one of killing insects so much as of saving plants. In fact, there is nothing in spraying the plants with Paris green which suggests cruelty to innocent caterpillars, nor is the process likely to harden the child’s sensibilities. To gain knowledge of the life-story of insects or other creatures is nature-study. To destroy them as pests is a part of Agriculture or Horticulture. The one may be of fundamental assistance to the other, but the two are quite separate and should never be confused. THE FIELD NOTE-BOOK A field note-book may be made a joy to the pupil and a help to the teacher. Any kind of a blank book will do for this, except that it should not be too large to be carried in the pocket, and it should always have the pencil attached. To make the note-book a success the following rules should be observed : (a) The book should be considered the personal property of the child and should never be criticized by the teacher except as a matter of encouragement; for the spirit in which the notes are made, is more im- portant than the information they cover. (b) The making of drawings should be encouraged for illustrating what is observed. A graphic drawing is far better than a long description of a natural object. (c) The note-book should not be regarded as a part of the work in English. The spelling, language and writing of the notes should all be exempt from criticism. (d) As occasion offers, outlines for observing certain plants or ani- mals may be placed in the note-book previous to the field excursion so as to give definite points for the work. 14 Handbook of Nature-Study (e) No child should be compelled to have a note-book. The field note-book is a veritable gold mine for the nature-study teacher to work, in securing voluntary and happy observations from the pupils concerning their out-of-door interests. It is a friendly gate which admits the teacher to a knowledge of what the child sees and cares for. Through it she may discover where the child’s attention impinges upon the realm of nature and thus may know where to find the starting point for cultivating larger intelligence and a wider interest. Tnf No. m 297 y * ? ] »« \ CDcirMevus*. 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